Two men kept from boarding US plane after speaking Arabic

[Hans Mann]

New York (AFP) - Two men were kept from boarding a flight from Chicago to Philadelphia this week because they were speaking Arabic, one of just several incidents reflecting the paranoia sparked by the Paris attacks.

Maher Khalil and Anas Ayyad were told by a gate agent at Midway Airport that they wouldn't be allowed on the plane because a fellow passenger had overheard them speaking Arabic -- and was afraid to fly with them.

Ultimately, the two friends reportedly of Palestinian origin and in their late 20s, got on the Southwest flight Wednesday night, but only after being questioned by airport security and police, called by Khalil, who told the local NBC television affiliate he didn't know what else to do.

Once on board, Khalil told NBC 5 that some passengers made him open a white box he was carrying -- filled, it turns out, with sweets.

"So I shared my baklava with them," he was quoted as saying.

Contacted by AFP, Southwest Airlines declined to comment.

Similar incidents have reportedly taken place on other US domestic flights in the wake of last week's attacks in the French capital that killed 130 people and have been claimed by Islamic State extremists. The group has also made threats against US cities.

Also at Chicago's Midway Wednesday, six men identified by fellow passengers as being of Middle Eastern descent were removed from a Southwest flight bound for Houston after they asked people around them to switch seats, causing a commotion, the local ABC affiliate reported.

In Florida on Thursday, a Spirit Airlines flight en route to Minneapolis turned around and returned to Fort Lauderdale after a young passenger "heard what she believed to be a conversation during which the subject made a remark about blowing up the plane," according to a police report quoted by the Sun Sentinel newspaper.

Once back on the ground, Yaniv Abotbul, a US citizen born and raised in Israel, was interrogated for five hours, his lawyer Mark Eiglarsh told a news conference.

Abotbul was let go, with the police report quoted by the Sun Sentinel saying "intensive interviews revealed no actual threat was made to the flight and the incident appears to be a miscommunication from a juvenile witness."

His lawyer has demanded an apology both from the airline and authorities involved.

Spirit Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.

The same carrier was implicated in another incident, in Baltimore, Maryland, on Tuesday.

A woman and three men described by fellow passengers as being of Middle Eastern descent were escorted off a plane headed to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport when a witness reported suspicious activity to the flight crew, the Baltimore Sun reported, citing police.

In the end, police determined that one of the passengers had simply been watching a news report on a smartphone, according to the newspaper.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the individuals were racially profiled.

"These passengers were inconvenienced and forced to endure humiliating treatment and invasive questioning for no apparent substantial reason other than because their perceived ethnicity caused alarm in a fellow passenger," a spokeswoman told the newspaper.

http://news.yahoo.com/two-men-kept-b...hfMQRzZWMDc2M-

[Neverna]

It seems that stronger underwear is required for Americans travelling by plane.

[alwarner]

"Oh no! They're speaking foreign, shoot them!"

[sabang]

Should they apprehend dodgy looking white men in the vicinity of schools and kindergartens also? they kill many more people in the states than muzzies.

[Lostandfound]

Ridiculous blaming all arabs for the actions of a minority is like blaming all drunk drivers for accidents caused by a few among their number.

[Norton]

Should they apprehend dodgy looking white men in the vicinity of schools and kindergartens also?

Only if they speak A..Rab.

[12Call]

Grooming.

[thaimeme]

Predictable.
Couldn't expect anything less.

[taxexile]

in these uncertain times it certainly makes sense to keep swarthy types away from all forms of public transport, shopping centres and public places in the more advanced countries of the world.

[thaimeme]

in these uncertain times it certainly makes sense to keep swarthy types away from all forms of public transport, shopping centres and public places in the more advanced countries of the world.

Advanced countries......[whatever illusion this conjures up]

[taxexile]

well it certainly doesnt include afghanistan, pakistan, most other -stans, north and central africa and the middle east.

[soibeer]

Perhaps they were just clearing their throat?

[blue]

Sounds like a set up my the cunning muslins, sent 2 loud mouths to act suspiciously, then hand out sweets when spotted.
All to get the public to lower their guard and feel paranoid .

[Looper]

Advanced countries......[whatever illusion this conjures up]

It is a mixture of economic, technological, social and political progress relative to the rest of the world.

[stroller]

Maher Khalil and Anas Ayyad were told by a gate agent at Midway Airport that they wouldn't be allowed on the plane because a fellow passenger had overheard them speaking Arabic -- and was afraid to fly with them.

Why wasn't the 'fellow passenger' told to grow up and get lost?

[stroller]

Once on board, Khalil told NBC 5 that some passengers made him open a white box he was carrying -- filled, it turns out, with sweets.

Why weren't those passengers removed from the flight for unruly behaviour and causing a disturbance?

[kingwilly]

Maher Khalil and Anas Ayyad were told by a gate agent at Midway Airport that they wouldn't be allowed on the plane because a fellow passenger had overheard them speaking Arabic -- and was afraid to fly with them.

Why wasn't the 'fellow passenger' told to grow up and get lost?

Once on board, Khalil told NBC 5 that some passengers made him open a white box he was carrying -- filled, it turns out, with sweets.

Why weren't those passengers removed from the flight for unruly behaviour and causing a disturbance?

Kinda beggars belief, doesn't it?

[taxexile]

Why weren't those passengers removed from the flight for unruly behaviour and causing a disturbance?

these are difficult times stroller, and thanks in great part to frau merkel they have recently become even more difficult.

you just dont know who you might be sitting next to.

[Neverna]

you just dont know who you might be sitting next to.

That's par for the course on planes unless you travel in a group and manage to get seats next to each other.

God forbid those Americans getting on the Tube in London! Best take ear plugs so as not to hear any foreign languages!




.

[stroller]

you just dont know who you might be sitting next to.

But you knew before these "difficult times"?

So, it's fine for passengers to examine each other's belongings on board a plane now if they become suspicious of fellow travellers (that's after all the previous security controls before boarding, one might add)?

[Cujo]

Americans have lost the plot.
Check out youtube, (anything to do with Americans) they really are insane.

[sabang]

I'm not sure who are the most scared people in the world today- Yazidi's, Yemeni's, or amerkins.
Clearly, the threat to the continental amerkin must exceed that to a Damascene, Londoner or Parisienne- who are able to go about their business normally, unlike the great Heartland which is gripped by existential panic.

[stroller]

It's not surprising what prejudice and hysteria can do to people, but that airlines and police go along and act on that nonsense with impunity...

land of the free, but if another passenger doesn't like your looks you are prevented from boarding or interrogated for hours, eh?

[Davis Knowlton]

Land of the Free...Home of the Brave.


Could of fucking fooled me.

[taxexile]

It's not surprising what prejudice and hysteria can do to people, but that airlines and police go along and act on that nonsense with impunity...

land of the free, but if another passenger doesn't like your looks you are prevented from boarding or interrogated for hours, eh?

never trust a swarthy or a fuzzy wuzzy and you wont go far wrong in life.